Mops are floor cleaning implements which include a cleaning element, attached to an elongate handle, that contacts the floor during cleaning and that absorbs (and expels) a liquid. A floor cleaning element may be a sponge, a piece of cloth, string elements or the like. The floor cleaning element typically is used to expel liquid during cleaning of the floor surface and to absorb liquid during drying of the surface. There exist many different mop designs, including those which have a wringing element for wringing liquid from the floor cleaning element.
Through use, floor cleaning elements of mops wear and become unusable. Their absorption and expulsion capacities reduce greatly through use. As a result, some mops are designed to be disposable, such mops being disposed of after the floor cleaning element becomes unusable. In such disposable mops, the remaining elements of the mop (i.e., the handle, the mop head, etc.) typically are still in fine operating shape when the mop is disposed.
To overcome the wasteful nature of disposable mops, some mops offer replaceable floor cleaning elements, i.e., replaceable sponges. The floor cleaning element is replaced on the mop when worn. None of such mops to date offers a satisfactory design for easily replacing the floor cleaning element while still providing for effective cleaning. In some designs, replacing the sponge requires removal and then replacement of hardware with a tool, which may be burdensome and difficult. In many mop designs, once the floor cleaning element has been replaced, it becomes loose and slips during use, greatly reducing its effectiveness.